As much of an ass-beating that was, there’s a lot to be happy about as a Packers fan. This offense only has time to improve as star running back Josh Jacobs pending a Packers front office decision and star quarterback Jordan Love are under contract for a few more seasons and the same goes for the defense. Our stars are locked down and none of them besides Love are signed for egregious amounts of money, allowing us the opportunity to add continually as needed, unlike the previous era of Aaron Rodgers.

With that being said, the first thing the front office needs to address is wide receiver. There’s not a true wide receiver one on this team and in this game, it showed. Jordan Love threw three interceptions and the throws weren’t great, but no one was getting open, and the pocket was collapsing quickly. Short throws aren’t going to beat a team like Philadelphia, they’ll give the Packers those and force them to convert tough third downs.

There are a lot of options this offseason, free-agent wide receivers include Stefon Diggs, Tee Higgins, Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, and Chris Godwin. Diggs and Godwin are coming off big injuries which is scary but also decreases their value, creating some appeal to a team like the Packers who can afford to sign them to a big one-year contract so they can prove their value while Green Bay potentially benefits from having an alpha wide receiver on their offense. Tee Higgins will require a big contract, he’s young and also talented, the other two had tough years and also won’t demand a big contact. I wouldn’t mind taking a chance on Godwin but other than that I don’t know if it’s worth it.

In the NFL draft, there are also plenty of solid options projected to go in the early rounds, some realistic options are Luther Burden III, Emeka Egbuka, Tre Harris, and Isaiah Bond. Those are four guys that are projected to be drafted in the middle of the first round to early in the second round. Luther Burden has been a player I’ve been watching for the last two years now and if the Packers were to have a chance at taking him and pass it up, I’d lose my mind. This year he struggled but I think it goes hand-in-hand with the breakout of Theo Wease Jr. former five-star recruit who transferred in from Oklahoma before the season. He’s an elite route runner and has big play potential every play due to his speed. Egbuka and Harris are similar players to me and if Green Bay left the draft with either, I’d be pleased. They’re both about 6’2 and 210 lbs. and are projected to run around a 4.45 40-yard dash, who run routes well and have great hands. On the other hand if the Packers draft Isaiah Bond, I will be pissed, it’s just another Jayden Reed prototype player which we do not need.

Enough with my wide receiver rant, it’s time to talk about the pass rush. This playoff game especially Green Bay couldn’t generate pressure AT ALL. It felt as if Jalen Hurts had all the time in the world to make a decision on what he wanted to do, the defense all-around played well but the holes got exposed. Jalen Hurts didn’t complete many passes but late in the game when he had to, he did. Lukas Van Ness seems like a bust, but there’s still time, Devonte Wyatt shows us flashes of his elite ability but has yet to bring it all together, Kenny Clark and Rashan both regressed this season, so to me it seems obvious that the Packers address the defensive line in free agency or through the draft.

To wrap it up, this game sucked to watch as a fan, I watched the Packers get outplayed in every aspect of the game and we as fans don’t have much to hang our hats on besides the future. I do want to highlight how great of a season this truly was though, we fought hard in a division that’s filled with juggernauts and found ways to win through injuries to our star players like quarterback Jordan Love, pro bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander, and countless others. I’m proud of the team and the season we had, if you asked me pre-season if we’d be first-round exits, I’d tell you you’re crazy but so be it. That’s the beauty of sports, there’s always next year.